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another brand of headphones i love is grado. my silver sr325 are my daily driver when it comes to open-back headphones. since the early '90s, grado has essentially kept to the same house sound, as well as general aesthetic.
there have been several models introduced since the original prestige series made its debut, but i'll be focusing on their prestige series. every few years, grado releases a revision of their headphones. these revisions are nothing too drastic, just minor tweaks to the sound signature, as well as minor hardware changes. but overall, the grado sound has essentially remained the same for the past 30 years. a very lively sound that fails to bore you. i still think their sr60 and sr80 models are still some of the best sounding headphones you can get for around the $100 price point. a few caveats do exist though; people may find them too harsh/aggressive if their ears are sensitive to the upper midrange and treble regions, and sub-bass is basically non-existent. comfort can be quite crappy if you just want a headphone that you unbox and use right away. some minor adjustments are needed, like bending the headband to properly fit your head, and perhaps washing the on-ear earpads to soften the foam.
the construction of grado headphones are very simple. people have labeled this as a con, in a way that it feels/looks very flimsy. i disagree, they're very durable and will last quite a long time if they aren't heavily abused (like carelessly thrown in a backpack with textbooks/heavy objects). if one is familiar with diy repairs, they're very serviceable if they do happen to fail in some way.
anyways, they're another brand i do recommend to check out if one's looking for headphones. the sr60 model can be found second-hand for ~$40 at times, sometimes less. the sound signature is more along the lines of being an acquired taste, so trying a pair out before buying is recommended.
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bix
